Information disclosure vulnerabilities can arise in various peculiar ways, especially as applications continue to evolve and become more complex over time. Unlike some injection attacks, where several factors determine exploitability. Information disclosures can often lead to direct, standalone attacks while also facilitating future escalations. For instance, what starts as a seemingly non-confidential version disclosure could end up in an attacker enumerating CVEs for that specific software build. In this article, we explore how to identify and exploit information disclosure vulnerabilities that lead to confidential data disclosure, and learn how to utilize this information for subsequent attacks. Let's dive in! What is an information disclosure vulnerability An information disclosure vulnerability originates when an application unintentionally exposes sensitive data to users who shouldn't have access to it. This data can either lead to a direct attack (e.g., disclosure of PII) or help aid in future attacks (e.g., hard-coded credentials). In both instances, this is due to poor security practices, misconfigurations, or inadequate access controls. However, it is crucial to note that not all exposed data can necessarily be classified as confidential. To properly distinguish what's supposed to be confidential from what's meant to be public, we must consider several factors. This is even more true when you're actively participating in bug bounty programs. Let's examine a few practical examples to help identify information disclosures from non-confidential data. Examples of exploitable information disclosure vulnerabilities As we've previously mentioned, not all data exposures can be considered an information disclosure vulnerability. Some are merely verbose string values that can not lead to a direct or indirect attack and should therefore be disregarded or noted for future reference.